Fibrous covering and method of making same



Nov. 15, 1932. H. l.. LEvlN 1,887,979

FIBROUS COV'ERING AND METHOD OF VMAKING SAME original Filed Jan. 17. 1927 Patented Nov. 15, 1932 HAROLD I.. LEVIN, or NUTLET?, NEW

THE FLIN-TKOTE CORPORATION, OF BOSTON, .'IASSACHUSET-TS, A CORPORATION Ol' MASSACHUSETTS Originalapplicaton led January 17, 1927, Serial No. 161,711. Divided and 1930. Serial No. 457,474.

This application is` a division of my co pending application, Serial Number 161,711, filed January 17, 1927. v

. This invention vrelates to the manufacture of \brous coverings and particularly that type of coverin` having a woven or knitted fabric base and nished lwith a printed design on its exposed or wearing surface.

Coverings of this-character andmore particularly, floorv coverings, are usually produced by weavino' on power looms, and since this is a somewhat complicated procedure, the product is necessarily expensive, and up to the present time no such coverings have been available at nominal cost.

With the resent invention, I am able to produce a iibor covering resembling very closely woven rugs,

and in addition to being very much cheaper than the latter, they sur pass them in many respects.

Attempts have been made to produce a cheap Hoor covering of this type by starting with a coarsely woven fabric such as burlap as a foundat-ion and forming this into a needle punched fabric.' This needle punchling of the foundation fabric is effected by superposing over the foundation fabric a bat composed of hair or wool fibers, or both', or any similar fibers either alone or combined with the aforenamed fibers, loosely felted together in a dry condition on a blaimer, well known inthe art. This superposed bat'is then partially driven or punched through the interstices of the foundation fabric, by4

means of a needle punch loom' (also well known).

At this stage of the process, the

fibers project through the bottonr face of thel fabric (i. e. the face opposite-to that u on which the bat was superposed) somew at loosely. By pulling lightly on the fibers from either side of the product at this stage Y of the process, they are easily. separated from the folmdation fabric.

. In the this type, the step of printing over the wearing surface followed this needle punching step without any attempt to lock the fibers in position on thesfoundation fabric. Obvious'- l a floor covering lso produced wasunsatis'- factory for the reason that the normal traffic forming' bald spots where the previous manufacture of rugs of FIBROUS' COVERING AND METHOD 02,8l MAKING this application illed Hay 29,

to which the wearing surface was subjected, caused the fibers, ly through the foundation fabric, to separate t erefrom through abrasionand friction foundation fabric becameexposed, which, of course detract from the ornamental appearai'ice of the covering.

On the otherghand, attempts, have been made to lock the fibersin place after they have been needle punched through the foundation fabric. use of a cut-back, i.-e., a solution of a normally water-insoluble material as rubber.

The disadvantages of material of this type are several, among them beingpenetration through the goods with a consequent staining of the'face; the firehazardentailed in the use of suitable organic solvents; andthe yinability to compound with thecut-back suiiicient filler to e a satisfactory degree of adulteration wlthout increasing the viscosity to a point which makes it impractical of application to the needle punched fabric'.

There hasialso-been used for this purpose (i. e. to lock the fibers in place in the founda-l tion fabric), a natural dispersion of rubber such asrubber latex, but this is objectionable for various reasons and impracticalv due to the high cost of the rubber hydrocarbon.

No satisfacto found prior to t will have none of merated, and yet process to pro uce a rug at nominal cost.

A paint film is too penetrating, takes toov long to dry and is not iiexible; a hot asphalt application is also too highly penetrating and will flow under constant pressure and locking means has been e present invention which the objections above enudoes notaiford. sufcient traction; rubber Alatex is expensive and very troublesome to manipulate` since fllerscan be incorporated only with diiiculty andthe latex itself has inwhich projected only loose@ These attempts lnclude'd the` be capable ofv use in this' JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO -I suci ent body to prevent penetration through the fabric. L l vAsphalt or otherbitumen-pitch type emulsion alone is unsatisfactory due to the as-Y vphaltic or similar properties of the dry film, which will tend to. flow and penetrate through the fabric.

The problem is to obtain suicient plasyried out in conjunction with fabrics other ticity to facilitate application of the coating than those known as needle punched fabrics, to the fabric without giving rise to penetraand in factwith any fabric which is highly tion ofthe coating through the fabric. porous and which possesses other properties ,It has been found that by properly comanalogous to those characteristic of needle 70 pounding a stable emulsion, all these diiiipunched fabrics. Furthermore, when used culties are overcome and at the 'same time in conjunction with needle punched fabrics, it 'there is produced'a very inexpensive, wateris not essential that the `foundation fabric be proof, non-skid door covering in which the burlap, but it should be obvious that any w fibers are locked in place in the foundation coarsely woven fabric, or any fabric other- 75 fabric, and cannot be; separated therefrom wise produced but resembling'coarsely woven by foot traific, sweeping, beating, brushing, fabric, might be used in place of the burlap. or vacuum cleaning. The invention may also be used to produce As an illustration, the compounded emulwall coverings, upholstering fabrics, etc.,'and

i5 sion used for the purpose may be formed as is not limited to iioor coverings. ge

follows: To 400 pounds more or less, of pre The previously prepared emulsion priorto viously prepared stable emulsion, -add 200 compounding heretofore referred tomay pounds more or less of a non-'plastic clay and comprise any desired type of stable emulsion. 40 pounds more or less of red oxide o r other For instance, it may comprise the type '20. suitable pigment.' These proportions may of emulsion4 described and claimedin U. S .95

be varied within considerable latitude. patent to Lester Kirschbraun No. 1,302,810,

This compound, thinned with water if necin which a solid material is reduced to essary, may be applied to the needle punched heated iuid condition, and .dispersed iii fabric by means of a convenient doctor aran aqueous medium by means of an rangement which serves to spread the cominert colloid such as ,cla .i The use of they e0 ound in a iilm over thebottom face 0f the emulsion prepared in accprdance 'with' the needle punched fabric. The thickness of thef disclosure of said patent is preferable, but film may be predetermined by suitably ad it is obvious thatasoap em lsion or any other justing the doctor. When this lmhas dried type which can be made stable by suitable the fibers are firmly locked in place, and the means might serve for the same purpose. In 95 febri iS 110W rea-dy t0 be Printed aS desired vmaking the initial emulsion, any type of as-v on its top face, using any well-known type 0f phalt, pitch, resin, wax, or any combination l printing apparatus., l i of these may be used. The emulsifying The COVeriIlg thus produced, in addition t0 agent may comprise finely divided materials being free frm the defects inherent in the which exhibit plasticity in paste form with '100 vcoverings 0f this type previously' PrOdUCefi, water, such for example, as clay, metallic sili-r i's Wabefpleof and possessed 0f fine DOD-skld cates, oxides, ochre, slate dust and the like.- propel'ties e. Will not'slide along the floor) In this type 0f emulsion the bitumen-pitch and moreover the color designed on its exmay comprise45 to 55 percent of 30 penetra- 40 Posed face, Produced in tbe last Stage 0f tbe tion steam refined. Mexican asphalt more or 105 process, is permanent and is not readily oblithiss,- the emulsfying agent 3 to 4% more 0r erated With reasonable Usage- It has been less, and the balance, water. In asoap emulreadily found in fact,jthat after'-ri1g P IO- sionthe saponaceous content maybe from duced by the process of the present mventwn one-ha1f-to 2% more or less, and the bitumen f h ed beer! in Servlee a reaSpIlebie length bf from 60 to 75% more or less, with the balance 110' time, without any attention whatever, a water, depending upon Vthe consistency desimple sweeping readily reinoyed all dlrt and sired. Such emulsion should be 'stabilized so forei matter fromthe wearing surface and as to permit the treatment heretofore deeffectively brought out the vari-colored de-- scribei Slgn thereOIL The upper and lower limit ofthe amount of l Wblle, as above state/dna' Tug Produced as non-plastic clay or the like which can be adddesfmbed possesses Posltwe antl'skld prfp' ed is not a fixed quantity, but is dependent ert1es,'these latter may be enhanced by inupon the type of emulsifying agent used as n corlmtingitwtfh the muliorbgoglsng; well as character of the ein lsion. In the il.- sma amoun so groun cor ,r e the mm In addition there may be mcor lustration givenJhave cited non plastic clay ller. Itis obvious that any finely diporated relatively small proportions of a? a i naphthalene or other vermin-repellent cliemi'- ded powdery. mammal ha'vmg thsamlgend cals to impart moth-proof properties well er?1 Pharaoh-ensues 95,0185'. may e um lz? '60 known to the nshed .product within the contemplation of the present in- 12 It is tobe observed that while the in'vn- Ventloni l tion is herein described in connection with Thpilrpvse of the red 01nd@ 11301113 te C0101 the use of a needle punched fabric requiring COatllg-the 8111.01.11, 0f thlS COIlStllillellb an interlocking of the punched fibers with more or less, determining the strength of the the foundation fabric, itmay likewise be carcolor. It is obvious that other base in the --1':

penetrate the fabric.. By the term bitumenpitch as used in the claims, I include all those substances heretofore referred to in the specification.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view indicating the fibers after the have been punched through a foundation fabric.

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the application of the emulsion coating serving to lock the fibers to the foundation fabric.

It is understood, of course, that Athe illustrations in the drawing are somewhat exaggerated for the purpose of clearly illustrating the invention.

Fig. 1 is intended to indicate the fibers 1,

after they have been punched through the foundation fabric 2, the fibers in this condition, of course, being insecurely associated with the foundation. Upon application of the coating of emulsion composition 3 to the structure of Fig. 1, the resultant film 3 serves to lock the fibers 1 to the foundation fabric 2, forming a continuous film, as shown, with which the vfibers are securely bonded. v

I claim as my invention: 1. A floor covering or like article comprising a woven or open mesh fabric, loosely felted fibers formed with one face of said fabric and extended through the interstices of the foundation and secured thereto by a continuous layer comprising the water-free film of a thickened bituminous emulsion.

2. A fioor covering or like article comprising a woven or open lmesh fabric, loosely felted fibers formed with one face of said fabric and extended through the interstices of the foundation and secured thereto by a continuous film of waterproofing material derived from a thickened emulsion thereof.

3. A fioor covering or like article comprising a woven or open mesh fabric, loosely felted fibers 'formed with one .face of said fabricand extended. through the interstices of the foundation and secured thereto by a continuous filmof waterproofing material derived from an emulsion thereof containing compounding ingredients to prevent penetration of said waterproofing material through the fabric.

4. A fioor covering or like article comprispounding ingredients to prevent penetration of the bitumen through the fabric.

5. As anew article of manufacture, a sheet ofmaterial comprising a base of woven or open mesh fabric, a multiplicity of strands of fibrous material extending from one side of said base and also passing through said base toits opposite side, and anchoring means for said strands on said opposite side of the base, comprising a deposit in situ from a thickened water dispersion of waterproofing4 v material, said deposit forming a film, whereby fiexibility of the base is unlmpaired.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a fieX- ible sheet material comprising a base of fibrous material and multiplicity of strands of fibrous material extending from one side of said base and also passing through said base' to its opposite side, and a' single anchoring means for securingsaid strands against displacement on said opposite side of the base, colnprisin g a deposit in situ from a dispersion` of Waterproofing material'of a consistency to prevent complete penetration through said base. l

7. As a new article of manufacture, a Hexible sheet of material comprising a base of fibrous material, a multiplicity of strands of fibrous material extending from one side of said base and also passing through said base to its opposite side and a sin le anchoring means for securing said stran s against displacement on said opposite side of the base comprising a deposit in situ from a Water dispersion of waterproofing material of the consistency to form a'film on said base land. a firm b ond thereto and to said strands said dispersion being of a consistencsuflicient to prevent substantial penetratlon through said base. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HAROLD LLEVIN.

ing a Woven 'or open mesh fabric, loosely 

